An ice warning sign is covered with snow in Lancaster in February 2018.
Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

The new year is set to get off to a frosty start with plummeting temperatures, unsettled weather conditions and the return of the sort of cold snap dubbed the ‘beast from the east’ last year.

As the odds were cut on this month ending as the coldest January on record, forecasters warned of snow on hills by the end of the week, with the possibility that lower ground could also be affected.

While Wednesday is expected to be cold and dry for much of the country, the Met Office is predicting that the second week of the New Year will become increasingly unsettled, with rain, strong winds and severe gales possible.

“By the third week of January there is then an increased likelihood of a change to much colder weather generally, bringing an enhanced risk of frost, fog and snow,” it said in a forecast, adding that there may also be milder, wet and windy interludes.

Councils around England, Scotland and Wales have already deployed gritters on some routes. They included Blackburn with Darwen Council, which warned of the threat of frost and ice on some road surfaces as temperatures drop to as low as -4.3C.

The bookmaker Coral is meanwhile offering odds of 1/2 that there will be snow in any major city in the UK by the end of the week.

“It may be a mild start to the month and new year, however, temperatures are set to drop sharply later in the week and with some frosty conditions on the horizon, we have cut the odds on this month ending as the coldest January on record,” said Coral’s John Hill.

The UK experienced some of its most testing weather for years in early 2018 as blizzards, strong winds, drifting snow and bitter cold caused death and disruption as the weather system nicknamed the “beast from the east” combined with Storm Emma.

The conditions led to the Met Office issuing a red warning – its most severe alert – as temperatures plunged and up to 50cm of snow fell on high ground.